How important are microphone preamps to a home studio?

[BIGTYME]

i dont have one, but im always hearing about one, i have a ksm 27 mic and am looking to improve my sound

how important is a preamp?

and if so whats a good one thats going for a couple hundred or less

 

[Big Daddy]

I think you should try and borrow one to find out.

I only have very limited experience with home studios but a lot of live sound and have recorded in the past. I also have an electronics back round and build guitar amps.

The better the sound is being recorded the better the sound will be.

I've heard the phrase "fix it in the mix" to often and that's BS.

To prove my point take a cheap cable and a really good one and A/B them. If you don't hear a difference anything you buy won't matter.

There is big difference and that gets even bigger as the quality of your equipment increases.

The first thing the signal sees will be the biggest factor on the overall sound of anything. I could build the greatest sounding amp in the world (I wish) but if the first tube is a poor sounding one it will not be the greatest sounding amp, I will just be amplifying a poor tone and hope that along the way the sound improves, which it does to a certain extent.

My first question is what are you plugging the mic into?

My second is why would you plug a $300 mic into a cheap preamp?

My third question is what are you recording with it?

If it's going into an already so-so preamp of a board or interface just adding another cheap pre is just going to add noise and distortion to the signal. Your better off buying some type of limiter to make sure you don't over drive the first stage it sees.

What do you think your recording needs, more warmth, more volume, more punch, is your recording dull and lifeless, too distorted?

If your using a board let's say the board itself has 4 channels and costs $200. And a mic pre is 2 channels and costs $400. You can bet the quality of the parts in the outboard preamp is probably better. Another question would be can your board take the hotter signal from the preamp? Does it have a line in and a trim control?

So there are a lot of things to consider, if you give us more information on your setup the people here can better help you.

 

[Lectric_Lab]

I think you should try and borrow one to find out.

I only have very limited experience with home studios but a lot of live sound and have recorded in the past. I also have an electronics back round and build guitar amps.

The better the sound is being recorded the better the sound will be.

I've heard the phrase "fix it in the mix" to often and that's BS.

To prove my point take a cheap cable and a really good one and A/B them. If you don't hear a difference anything you buy won't matter.

There is big difference and that gets even bigger as the quality of your equipment increases.

The first thing the signal sees will be the biggest factor on the overall sound of anything. I could build the greatest sounding amp in the world (I wish) but if the first tube is a poor sounding one it will not be the greatest sounding amp, I will just be amplifying a poor tone and hope that along the way the sound improves, which it does to a certain extent.

My first question is what are you plugging the mic into?

My second is why would you plug a $300 mic into a cheap preamp?

My third question is what are you recording with it?

If it's going into an already so-so preamp of a board or interface just adding another cheap pre is just going to add noise and distortion to the signal. Your better off buying some type of limiter to make sure you don't over drive the first stage it sees.

What do you think your recording needs, more warmth, more volume, more punch, is your recording dull and lifeless, too distorted?

If your using a board let's say the board itself has 4 channels and costs $200. And a mic pre is 2 channels and costs $400. You can bet the quality of the parts in the outboard preamp is probably better. Another question would be can your board take the hotter signal from the preamp? Does it have a line in and a trim control?

So there are a lot of things to consider, if you give us more information on your setup the people here can better help you.

Good stuff Big Daddy...I was kinda wondering where the KSM 27 was presently being plugged into also...another consideration when using a mic pre-amp is the ohms of the mic matched to the pre amp, other wise you will get a mismatch and the microphone won't function to full potential...ie, most LDC have around 180-200 ohms, you wouldn't want a pre amp that strictly uses 600 ohms.

 

[ofajen]

i dont have one, but im always hearing about one, i have a ksm 27 mic and am looking to improve my sound

how important is a preamp?

and if so whats a good one thats going for a couple hundred or less

Most of the time, not that important, compared to everything in front of it: you, your musical choices, your playing, your instruments, your room, your mike and how you positioned it. For a long time I just used the preamps in my little Mackie and things sounded fine if good stuff was being done in front of it. Heck, 25 years ago I used to use Shure transformers into a Roland line mixer and that worked OK, too, given where I was on all that other stuff.

That said, if you have $200 burning to be spent, you could buy an M-Audio DMP-3 and know that you had something reasonable.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[boingoman]

Good stuff Big Daddy...I was kinda wondering where the KSM 27 was presently being plugged into also...another consideration when using a mic pre-amp is the ohms of the mic matched to the pre amp, other wise you will get a mismatch and the microphone won't function to full potential...ie, most LDC have around 180-200 ohms, you wouldn't want a pre amp that strictly uses 600 ohms.

OK please go into more detail, or clear this up, it doesn't make much sense.

 

[The Axis]

How important are microphone preamps to a home studio?

Truthfully: completely irrelevent. Nearly any modern preamp will preserve the quality, frequency response, noise floor, dynamic range, etc.....with far more precision than you can hear, and certainly with higher quality than the acoustics of the room and noise of the mic will introduce.

No one likes to hear the truth. It is discussed in numerous other threads.
Spend your money and have fun.

 

[Cosmic]

Axis,

In my case, I have to differ. My first digital machine was a Tascam 788, and the first thing I did after testing it was to buy a DBX 286 pre. The pres in the 788 were worthless at anywhere near mic level boost, hissy as hell. Good machine otherwise, but....

I now have a Tascam 2488, so a big difference, but the pres are still not quiet enough to my ears to run 24 channels through. I bought a Sytek 4-pack of pres and I that's all I will want for the forseeable future. Dead quiet and neutral.
And I am talking about recording in my own apartment, under not-so-great acoustic conditions, and I can hear the difference.

To the poster, I recommend the DBX 286. You get a comp/limiter in it as well, and if you find a demo unit or such, it should be right at your price.

Best,
C.

 

[Ford Van]

Truthfully: completely irrelevent. Nearly any modern preamp will preserve the quality, frequency response, noise floor, dynamic range, etc.....with far more precision than you can hear, and certainly with higher quality than the acoustics of the room and noise of the mic will introduce.

No one likes to hear the truth. It is discussed in numerous other threads.
Spend your money and have fun.

A-fucking-men brotha man!

http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio/HeavyBrothers/ . Almost every track you hear was recorded with an ART Dual MP. The drum overheads were done with a TL Audio Classic tube pre, and the saxophone ONLY IN THE LINE PARTS was with a Focusrite Red 8. Any horns solos went through the ART (we recorded the horn line parts at another studio and used the Focusrite for the heck of it).

Anyway. Tired discussion really. It is everything before the preamp that you should be concerning yourself with. Everything after that these days is a difference you will not appreciate nearly as much as you could if you have everything before worked out well.

 

[Sonixx]

I would put it this way...

A quality preamp should make your life easier. it's more beneficial to have a quality preamp than otherwise. But, not all preamps are born equal. that said, understand there are different types of preamps, those that are transparent and those that colour the sound. not every quality preamp will fit every occasion. variety is good, just like having different mics. IMO discounting the contribution of the preamp is over simplifying.

also, note, when you use the same preamp, mic, etc... for most every instrument and track, this colours everything with the same sonic signature. this will cause build up of those frequencies which may not be beneficial.

 

[Ford Van]

I would put it this way...

A quality preamp should make your life easier. it's more beneficial to have a quality preamp than otherwise. But, not all preamps are born equal. that said, understand there are different types of preamps, those that are transparent and those that colour the sound. not every quality preamp will fit every occasion. variety is good, just like having different mics. IMO discounting the contribution of the preamp is over simplifying.

also, note, when you use the same preamp, mic, etc... for most every instrument and track, this colours everything with the same sonic signature. this will cause build up of those frequencies which may not be beneficial.

Yeah, all those killer sounding recordings done on Neve consoles sure have that "same sonic signature that will cause build up of those frequencies which may not be beneficial".

 

[boingoman]

Yeah, all those killer sounding recordings done on Neve consoles sure have that "same sonic signature that will cause build up of those frequencies which may not be beneficial".

Rupert only left the beneficial frequencies in.

 

[Ford Van]

Rupert only left the beneficial frequencies in.

That much be it!

 

[Ford Van]

http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio/Silky/

This stuff was all tracked via a Mackie 1604 (older unit...not the VLZ) and mixed on the same console along with a 1202 to pick up the extra 8 tracks. Only 3 compressors total, all Behringers, and a Alesis Quadraverb for reverb.

Plenty of undesirable frequencies in this.

 

[Garik]

http://www.phoenixlightandsound.com/Audio/Silky/

This stuff was all tracked via a Mackie 1604 (older unit...not the VLZ) and mixed on the same console along with a 1202 to pick up the extra 8 tracks. Only 3 compressors total, all Behringers, and a Alesis Quadraverb for reverb.

Plenty of undesirable frequencies in this.

Ford to me it doesnt sound very profetional.It seems to have a dark sheen over the sound.The music itself is great ,but to me it seems that the sound is not open,maybe its the way they wanted it

 

[Ford Van]

Ford to me it doesnt sound very profetional.It seems to have a dark sheen over the sound.The music itself is great ,but to me it seems that the sound is not open,maybe its the way they wanted it

You would have to listen to some other stuff that the keyboard player "produced" to understand. I had to mix this is a control I had never worked in before too. So, yeah, I agree that it is a bit dark, but if anything, that would be CONTRARY to how Mackies are described eh?

 

[Ford Van]

Same studio. Mostly ART preamps.

Same producer. You can see he likes a certain "sound".

 

[Sonixx]

Yeah, all those killer sounding recordings done on Neve consoles sure have that "same sonic signature that will cause build up of those frequencies which may not be beneficial".

ha, this still does not take away the fact of sonic buildup. nice try but a bit short holmes.

also, a home studio owner will not have 24+ different preamps of the same model, he will probably have one or two and all tracks will be using those and these more than likely will not be of the quality of a neve.

...why do you find it beneficial to ridicule Downs syndrome.

 

[Ford Van]

ha, this still does not take away the fact of sonic buildup. nice try but a bit short holmes.

also, a home studio owner will not have 24+ different preamps of the same model, he will probably have one or two and all tracks will be using those and these more than likely will not be of the quality of a neve.

...why do you find it beneficial to ridicule Downs syndrome.

LOL.......you crack me up.

 

[Sonixx]

LOL.......you crack me up.

Good, now that you're finally in a good mood please answer a very simple question...

WHY DO YOU RIDICULE DOWNS SYNDROME?

I kindly ask that you remove the picture.

 

[Ford Van]

Good, now that you're finally in a good mood please answer a very simple question...

WHY DO YOU RIDICULE DOWNS SYNDROME?

I kindly ask that you remove the picture.

I kindly ask you to fuck off!